LMS Barcelona - Hour 3 The lengthy delay for the #14 Kolles Audi was due to the hit from the #12 Courage - Brad Kettler explaining that whilst a broken rear wing support would normally be no big problem the impact had actually deranged the underfloor assembly, an altogether lengthier repair was therefore required. Darren Turner That’s the first time I’ve done more than 8 or 9 laps in an LMP ca and really I am just settling in to how it feels in various stages of fuel load and tyre degradation. I’m pretty happy with that though this far in. Michael Vergers The car is good, it’s a bit warmer than the Zytek in there though! – My only real problem was understeer, I went wide and onto the Astroturf a couple of times and got a penalty. “I really thought the LMPs would a problem when they were passing but it could be far worse.” Benjamin Leuenberger “The car (#33 Speedy Sebah Lola Judd) seems to have had an electrical problem which meant we were losing power. We’ve had 3 complete race distance tests without a hint of a problem. “I can’t get back in the car now the race has started (after transferring to Spyker pre-race to relieve an injured Jarek Janis) and of course that car retired before I got in it1 The only way is up! Peter Hardman “Two cars jumped the start, Darren got alongside but didn’t pass. I was told before the start that even if the green lights came on I should control the start but they just blazed by me. Over at Aston Martin Racing though Stefan Mucke got out of the car and went straight up to see the race stewards – DSC believes that he offered the view that the Ginetta Zytek had slowed dramatically just before the start line and may have even touched the brakes. Barbosa’s 3 minute penalty dropped him down to 14th position, behind the top 4 LMP2 runners Garcia pits from the GT2 lead, Mansell rejoins in sixth for Team Modena with Lieb and bell battling over the lead in the class ahead. The IRS Courage gets it all wrong at Turn 4 as the ding dong battle for the lead between Jan Charouz and Christophe Tinseau comes by. The Courage driver leaves his braking way too late, presumably watching his mirrors for the approaching pair , goes straight on, mercifully missing the leaders and into the gravel . The lead battle is interrupted as Charouz pits, Enge cimbs aboard #007 and tinseau goes through to lead the race for Pescarolo Sport. His turn to pit comes a couple of laps later and as it all shakes out #16 leads, 12 seconds ahead of #007 with Panis in the #11 Courage Oreca closing in too, albeit still 30 seconds back. LMP2 is still in the hands of Erdos and RML, the #25 car 30 seconds to the good over the #30 Racing Box Lola and the #40 GAC Ginetta Zytek. Amaral is next up in the #40 ASM Ginetta Zytek with the WR Salini Zytek still running strongly, now fifth in class. The earlier clash between the #41 car and the Lamborghini has given the Corvette a significant advantage in GT1the lead well over a lap with the Larbre Saleen a further lap adrift and the ARC car a full ten laps off the pace. In GT2, with 2 and a half hours gone, we are getting into a pit window again. Class leader Rob Bell is first to call in the JMW Ferrari, Bruni climbs aboard. Anthony Beltoise is next down pitlane but he suffers a very minor fuel fire, that causes a delay both for the #90 car and for the the #25 RML car, Mike Newton rejoining but almost immediately in trouble of the smokey variety. It looks like game over for RML as the car cruises very slowly around. It's not a good few minutes for class leaders as the GT1 leading LAA Corvette (Luc Alphand at the Wheel) hits the GT2 leading Felbermayer Proton Porsche in Turn One, both continue, seemingly without major damage Lieb pits, Lietz rejoins, Mansell leads but Bruni is closing in very, very quickly and is now within 5 seconds of the Tem Modena car with Lietz a further 7 seconds back. The Italian takes three seconds out of Mansell next time around and is now right on his tail. Mansell holds him off for another lap but is then neatly outbraked into turn one as Lietz closes in rapidly, the top three in class now less than 3 seconds apart. Not for long though Lietz can smell the chance of a win and its soon a JMW / Felbermayer Proton 1-2 Back up in the overall lead, Tinseau still holds the position but Enge is now closing in very quickly, the lead down to 5 seconds with Panis now 23 seconds behind Enge. The Hankook shod Ferrari seems to be struggling not so much for pace as for durability of the available grip. Simonsen though is running in sixth at present, far from an embarassing stsrt to this programme for all concerned. The lead battle is now nose to tail, and has caught a battle for 7th between Bakkerud and Senna. Enge gets the worst of the traffic, the Audi and Oreca men lot helping the leaders by in any way whatsoever. Disaster for Luc Alphand as the GT1 leader goes off and deep into the gravel at Turn 5 - he had over a lap's advantage over the Lamborghini but Rusinov will now inherit the class lead. Tinseau still hasn't found a way by Senna and Panis is using the opportunity presented by the delay to the Pescarolo and Lola Aston to close right in. Frank Mailleux has a quick spin in the #12 Signature Plus Courage, a lap down in 5th at present, but continues. The Vette makes it back to the pits but is now two laps down to the Lamborghini. Tinseau, Enge, Panis is now separated by less than 5 seconds as we complete the hour with the 1,2,3 battle still bottled up behind Senna's battle with Bakkerud. Positions after three hours Pos/N°/Cat/Team/Car/Gap/Stops/Laps
1 16 "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd TINSEAU Christophe - 3 103
2 007 "LM"P1 Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston Martin ENGE Tomas 00min 03.428 s 3 103
3 11 "LM"P1 Team Oreca Matmut - AIM Courage-Oreca LC70 - AIM PANIS Olivier 00min 04.852 s 3 103
4 009 "LM"P1 Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston Martin RAMOS Miguel - 3 102
5 12 "LM"P1 Signature Plus Courage-Oreca LC70 - Judd MAILLEUX Franck - 3 101
6 13 "LM"P1 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/60 Coupé - Aston Martin PROST Nicolas 00min 25.258 s 3 101
7 15 "LM"P1 Kolles Audi R10 TDI BAKKERUD Christian 00min 46.654 s 4 101
8 10 "LM"P1 Team Oreca Matmut - AIM Courage-Oreca LC70 - AIM SENNA Bruno 00min 48.146 s 3 101
9 23 "LM"P1 Strakka Racing Ginetta - Zytek LEVENTIS Nick - 3 100
10 17 "LM"P1 Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo - Judd BARBOSA Joao - 4 99
11 30 "LM"P2 Racing Box Lola B08/80 Coupé - Judd BOBBI Matteo 00min 17.522 s 3 99
12 41 "LM"P2 G.A.C. Racing Team Zytek 07S - Zytek GOSSELIN Claude-Yves - 3 98
13 40 "LM"P2 Quifel - ASM Team Ginetta-Zytek 09S - Zytek AMARAL Miguel 00min 00.638 s 3 98
14 37 "LM"P2 WR / Salini WR - Zytek SALINI Stephane - 3 97
15 26 "LM"P2 Bruichladdich Bruneau Radical SR9 - AER BRUNEAU Pierre - 3 94
16 39 "LM"P2 KSM Lola B09/86 - Mazda SINI Francesco 01min 34.024 s 3 94
17 24 "LM"P2 Oak Racing Pescarolo - Mazda HEIN Richard 01min 35.942 s 2 94
18 29 "LM"P2 Racing Box Lola B08/80 Coupé - Judd CECCATO Andre - 4 93
19 55 "LM"GT1 IPB Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT RUSINOV Roman 03min 16.020 s 5 93
20 35 "LM"P2 Oak Racing Pescarolo - Mazda LAHAYE Matthieu - 2 92
21 92 "LM"GT2 JMW Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT BRUNI Gianmaria - 2 91
22 77 "LM"GT2 Team Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LIETZ Richard 00min 01.136 s 2 91
23 84 "LM"GT2 Team Modena Ferrari F430 GT MANSELL Leo 00min 31.770 s 2 91
24 90 "LM"GT2 FBR Ferrari F430 GT EHRET Pierre 01min 21.692 s 2 91
25 76 "LM"GT2 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR PILET Patrick 01min 27.580 s 2 91
26 89 "LM"GT2 Hankook - Team Farnbacher Ferrari F430 GT SIMONSEN Allan - 2 90
27 50 "LM"GT1 Larbre Competition Saleen S7R - Ford ZACCHIA Steve 01min 01.720 s 3 90
28 72 "LM"GT1 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R GOUESLARD Patrice 01min 03.222 s 3 90
29 99 "LM"GT2 JMB RACING Ferrari F430 GT HARTSHORNE John 01min 21.128 s 2 90
30 38 "LM"P2 Pegasus Racing Courage-Oreca LC75 - AER THIRION Philippe - 5 89
31 87 "LM"GT2 Drayson Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT2 COCKER Jonny 00min 17.276 s 3 89
32 88 "LM"GT2 Team Felbermayr - Proton Porsche 997 GT3 RSR RIED Christian - 4 88
33 91 "LM"GT2 FBR Ferrari F430 GT ROSA Gabrio 00min 01.216 s 2 88
34 96 "LM"GT2 Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 GT McINERNEY Sean 00min 55.974 s 3 88
35 81 "LM"GT2 Easyrace Ferrari F430 GT BASSO Paolo-Maurice - 2 87
36 25 "LM"P2 RML Lola B08/80 Coupé - Mazda NEWTON Mike - 3 82
37 51 "LM"GT1 Arc Bratislava - Kaneko Racing Saleen S7-R KONOPKA Miro - 5 81
38 33 "LM"P2 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 Coupé - Judd POMPIDOU Xavier - 2 80
39 14 "LM"P1 Kolles Audi R10 TDI MEYRICK Andrew - 3 77
40 28 "LM"P2 Ibanez Racing Service Courage LC 75 CAVAILHES William - 4 74
41 43 "LM"P2 Q8 Oils Hache Team Lucchini - Judd ARMETTA Fabrizio - 5 64
42 42 "LM"P2 Ranieri Randaccio Lucchini - Nicholson McLaren RANDACCIO Ranieri - 2 17
43 85 "LM"GT2 Snoras Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2 - R CORONEL Tom - 1 6 | 
